The role of perceived self-efficacy in the development of musical ability: what can the study of successful musicians tell us about teaching music to able children?

The role of perceived self-efficacy is important to human social development and to learning in general, but how it relates to music talent development is not well understood. This article explores the concept of perceived self-efficacy as it relates to the development of musical talent by considering what is meant by the concepts of high ability in music and self-efficacy, and by discussing the results of interviews with successful professional musicians. The interview data suggest the need for four aspects of self-efficacy to be present in order to fully develop talent: individual judgement of capability; a belief that outcomes are tied to individual actions; self-regulation of activities related to learning; and persistence in the face of difficulties. The implications of this for music teaching are also discussed

Increasing data (INAA) on Ecuadorian obsidian artifacts: preliminary provenance and a clue for pre-Columbian eastward trade.

In this work we carried out INAA major (Na, K, Ca and Fe %) and trace (ppm) elements (plus Mn by FAAS analysis) of 15 obsidian samples (waste flakes) coming from an unknown archaeological site (14C-AMS age of 1425 AD) located on the south-eastern flank of the back-arc Sumaco volcano, in the Sub-Andean Ecuador (to the east of the Cordillera Real) and from two already known pre-Columbian archaeological localities: La Florida (Quito) and Milan (Cayambe). Literature compositional data of the Ecuadorian obsidian outcrops (Bigazzi et al., 1992, Asaro et al., 1994, Bellot-Gurlet et al., 1999, 2008) provide some constraints on the provenance of the analyzed waste flakes, even though different methods of analyses make comparisons a difficult task. Concerning the obsidian artifacts of La Florida and Milan, they come from the well known Sierra de Guamanì obsidian sources (Cordillera Real). By contrast, the obsidian fragments of the Sumaco settlement show Mn-rich, U- Th-poor compositions and relatively high Nb/Zr ratios, these characters being compatible with obsidian erratic pebbles recently discovered by Bellot-Gurlet et al. (2008) in some river banks of the Amazonian foothills draining the easternmost flanks of the Antisana volcano in the Cordillera Real as well. In this way, the obsidian artifacts found at the Sumaco site reinforce the opinion of Bellot-Gurlet et al. (2008) that Ecuadorian source inventory is not yet exhaustive. These preliminary inferences of provenance for the Sumaco obsidian findings would however need to be furtherly tested with the same analytical methods on both artifacts and sources. The Antisana volcano, located 30 km to WNW of the Amazonian foothills, seems to be the best candidate to find out additional primary outcrops of obsidian sources. Obsidian ancient trade was well established in Ecuador among the Andean people of the Cordillera Real and between them and people of the Pacific coast, whereas an eastward trade toward the rainforest people was never documented. In this framework, the archaeometric study of the obsidian samples of the 1425 AD site of Sumaco, located well eastward of the Cordillera Real, is of paramount importance in tracing the ancient routes of the obsidian trade toward the Amazonian region. It can not be also excluded that sub-Andean and Amazonian people direcly took advantage from obsidian secondary sources (i.e. within the river banks of the Amazonian foothills) rather than procurements from primary outcrops in the Cordillera Real

Capsule Networks with Routing Annealing

International audienc

Imaging of biliary involvement in sarcoidosis: Computed tomography, magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography, and gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging findings

Sarcoidosis is a multisystem disease usually affecting the chest, hilar lymph nodes, and lungs, but can potentially involve any organ; therefore, its clinical presentation may vary. Hepato-biliary involvement is rare, and typically asymptomatic; however, it can lead to cirrhosis, and may require liver transplantation. In this report, we present a rare case of a patient affected by sarcoidosis with hepatobiliary involvement. He presented to our hospital complaining of dyspnea triggered by moderate efforts and oppressive thoracic discomfort. Chest X-ray showed multiple bilateral nodular opacities and enlargement of both hilar regions, confirmed by a subsequent total-body computed tomography scan and positron emission tomography, which also revealed cardiac, splenic, and hepatic involvement. Liver function was studied via gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging, and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) was also performed. The diagnosis of sarcoidosis was finally achieved via liver biopsy, revealing non-necrotizing granulomas in the periportal space. The patient was treated with prednisone per os, with regression of all lesions at all levels. Although other cases of biliary sarcoidosis have been described, this report provides a complete image set of Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced magnetic resonance and MRCP images that is lacking in the English literature, and which may be useful for diagnosis

Nurturing the young shoots of talent: Using action research for exploration and theory building

This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 19(4), 433-450, 2011, copyright Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/1350293X.2011.623515.This paper reports the outcomes of a set of action research projects carried out by teacher researchers in 14 local education authorities in England, working collaboratively with university tutors, over a period of three years. The common aim of all the projects was to explore practical ways of nurturing the gifts and talents of children aged four–seven years. The project was funded by the Department of Education and Skills in England as part of the government's gifted and talented programme. The project teachers felt that their understanding of issues relating to nurturing the gifts and talents of younger children was enhanced through their engagement in the project. It was possible to map the findings of the projects to the English government's National Quality Standards for gifted and talented education which include: (1) identification; (2) effective provision in the classroom; (3) enabling curriculum entitlement and choice; (4) assessment for learning; (5) engaging with community, families and beyond. The findings are also analysed within the framework of good practice in educating children in the first years of schooling. Participating practitioners felt that action research offered them a suitable methodology to explore the complexity of the topic of giftedness through cycles of planning, action and reflection and personal theory building

The paroxysmal event and its deposits

The 5 April 2003 eruption of Stromboli volcano (Italy) was the most violent in the past 50 years. It was also the best documented due to the accurate geophysical monitoring of the ongoing effusive eruption. Detailed field studies carried out a few hours to a few months after the event provided further information that were coupled with visual documentation to reconstruct the explosive dynamics. The eruption consisted of an 8-min-long explosive event preceded by a short-lived precursory activity that evolved into the impulsive ejection of gas and pyroclasts. Meter-sized ballistic blocks were launched to altitudes of up to 1400 m above the craters falling on the volcano flanks and on the village of Ginostra, about 2 km far from the vent. The vertical jet of gas and pyroclasts above the craters fed a convective plume that reached a height of 4 km. The calculated erupted mass yielded values of 1.1–1.4 × 108 kg. Later explosions generated a scoria flow deposit, with an estimated mass of 1.0–1.3 × 107 kg. Final, waning ash explosions closet the event. The juvenile fraction consisted of an almost aphyric, highly vesicular pumice mingled with a shallow-derived, crystal-rich, moderately vesicular scoria. Resuming of the lava emission a few hours after the paroxysm indicate that the shallow magmatic system was not significantly modified during the explosions. Combination of volume data with duration of eruptive phases allowed us to estimate the eruptive intensity: during the climactic explosive event, the mass discharge rate was between 106 and 107 kg/s, whereas during the pyroclastic flow activity, it was 2.8–3.6 × 105 kg/s. Strong similarities with other historical paroxysms at Stromboli suggest similar explosion dynamics

Hepatocellular adenoma: An unsolved diagnostic enigma

Hepatocellular adenoma (HCA) is a rare benign liver tumour associated with the use of oral contraceptives or other steroid medications which occurs predominantly in young and middle-aged women. Unlike other benign liver tumours, an HCA may be complicated by bleeding and malignant transformation. HCAs have been divided into four subtypes based on molecular and pathological features: hepatocyte nuclear factor 1\u3b1-mutated HCA, inflammatory HCA, \u3b2-catenin-mutated HCA, and unclassified HCA. \u3b2-catenin-mutated HCA has the highest risk of haemorrhage or malignant transformation. In the latest upgrade of the guidelines regarding the management of benign liver tumours published in 2016 by the European Association for the Study of the Liver, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was recognized to be superior to all other imaging modalities in detecting HCAs and in being able to subtype HCAs up to 80%, with positive identification of 1\u3b1-mutated HCA or inflammatory HCA achievable with > 90% specificity. This review analyzed the imaging features of HCA using MRI with hepato-specific contrast agents, focusing on the limitations in the HCA characterization

The Impact of the Introduction of Total Mesorectal Excision on Local Recurrence Rate and Survival in Rectal Cancer: Long-Term Results

Purpose: To investigate the influence of the introduction of total mesorectal excision (TME) on local recurrence rate and survival in patients with rectal cancer. Methods: A total of 171 consecutive patients underwent anterior or abdominoperineal resection for primary rectal cancer. When the TME technique was introduced, the clinical setting, including the surgeons, remained the same. Group 1 (1993-95, n=53) underwent conventional surgery and group 2 (1995-2001, n=118) underwent TME. All patients were followed for 7years or until death. Results: Between the two groups, no statistically significant differences were present with regards to patient-, treatment-, or tumor-related characteristics apart from the time point of radiotherapy. The total local recurrence rates were 11 of 53 (20.8%) in group 1 and 7 of 118 (5.9%) in group 2, and the rates of isolated local recurrences were 6 of 53 (11.3%) in group 1 and 2 of 118 (1.7%) in group 2. Both differences were highly statistically significant. The disease-free survival in groups 1 and 2 was 60.4 and 65.3% at 5years, and 58.5 and 65.3% at 7years, respectively. Excluding patients with synchronous or metachronous distant metastasis from the analysis, both the disease-free survival and the cancer-specific survival were statistically significantly better in group 2 than in group 1. No statistically significant difference between the two groups was detected regarding the overall survival. Conclusions: The introduction of TME led to an impressive reduction of the local recurrence rate. Survival is mainly determined by the occurrence of distant metastasis, but TME seems to improve survival in patients without systemic diseas